Weiß
by Uno-kun
Summary: While the group look for Patch Village, they encounter a vengeful spirit. Will they have to destroy it, or will Yoh's compassion save it?
1. Prolouge

**Prolouge **

The police chief patted his pack of cigarettes into his opposite palm as a detective walked in. The chief frowned slightly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to leave for a smoking break.

"What do you want?" The chief growled slightly.

"Forensics found a video tape in the crime scene. Maybe we might have a break in this case."

"Fine. Put it in the VCR."

The TV fizzed with some snow on the screen, and finally played. The picture was nothing but a pine forest, covered in snow. The camera spun to a small-framed young woman with red hair, sitting by a smoldering camp fire. She smiled bashfully as she tried to feed the dying fire. A masculine voice started to speak to her as the camera lowered to her eye level. Suddenly, a hand stuck out in front of the camera view, holding a small box. The girl squealed as she reached for it. As the police chief watched, he noticed something in the background. A white blur moved behind the trees, quickly getting closer and closer. As the girl opened the box, _something_ pulled her backwards, dragging her behind the tent. The camera picture fell to the ground, recording feet running away towards the tent. Ten minutes pass, and neither the man or the woman emerge. During this time, it has begun to snow.

The police chief dropped his pack onto his desk.

"So that's how it happened." he smirked, trying to hide his true feelings.

"Should I get someone to analyze the tape?" the detective said as he ejected the tape.

"Sure, sure. Go do that."

As the detective left, the police chief turned a picture frame towards him. In it, a picture of a small-framed woman with red hair smiled back at him.

"Daddy is going to find out who did this to you." he whimpered quietly to it.


	2. Chapter 1 The Wind

Nighttime darkened the forest, with the snow reflecting the moonlight. Nothing made a sound. For about five minutes.

"Horo Horo, if you throw another marshmallow at me, I _swear_ I'll stab my gwan dao into you and roast you in this fire!" Ren screamed as he pointed said weapon at Horo Horo's face. The rest of the group sat around the campfire, watching the ensuing drama.

"Ren, I didn't throw it...Chocolove did!" Horo Horo pointed out.

Chocolove turned around quickly with a "what the hell" look on his face.

"Did you throw this at me!" Ren screamed as he held the fatal marshmallow in his hand.

"No! It was Horo Horo."

"Liar!"

"It's because I'm black, isn't it?"

"No! It's just-"

"I knew it! You're racist!"

"I'm not RACIST."

"Yes you are!"

"Shut up! Am not!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Chocolove screamed as he Oversouled with Mic.

Ren took this as a challenge to fight.

While Chocolove and Ren were beating each other up, Yoh and Manta were looking at a map.

"We've gotten far since yesterday." Yoh said.

"But who knows if we're anywhere close to Patch Village." Manta frowned.

"I think we'll get there soon. It'll all work out." Yoh smiled.

Suddenly, snow started to drift down slowly. The group instinctively went back into their makeshift tents, since a snowstorm at night wasn't the best thing to sit through. Yoh laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. He turned to look at Anna, who "convinced" him to share the tent with her rather than Manta. She was sitting up, staring into space.

"Yoh, do you feel that?" she said in a serious tone. From the look on her face, she was not kidding at all.

"Sort of." Yoh said while trying to sleep.

"_Something_ out here is angry or vengeful."

Yoh nodded in agreement.

"I suggest we make our stay as short as possible."

"So does that mean we have to leave _now_?" Yoh whined within his blankets.

Anna glared.

"I guess so. I'll get everyone up..."

Just then, a blast of icy wind blew in front of Yoh as he opened the tent. However, the atmosphere felt colder than the wind itself. A deep, yet faint howl echoed, mixed in the sound of the wind. But as quickly as it came, it stopped. Yoh frowned slightly, and went back into the tent.

"I think it left." Yoh said.

"I sure hope so." Anna growled, "Go find out."

For the rest of the night, Yoh wandered around the site, and found nothing, except some white dog-looking hairs.


	3. Chapter 2 Attack

The next morning, the group slowly emerged from their tents, drowsy and cold. Ryu volunteered himself as the campfire starter. Horo Horo at once demanded to be fed. However, as they sat around the newly-lit fire, they noticed one of their companions hadn't emerged from their tent...Faust VIII.

Usually they wouldn't question his behavior, but from experience, they knew he was always up early, either because he did not sleep all night in the first place, or he was an early riser. Also, Anna didn't like people that slept in.

"Yoh, could you get sleeping beauty from his tent?" Anna muttered as she eyed Faust's tent.

"Me?" he said, while snuggling himself comfortably in blankets.

"No, I'm asking for Manta to go look."

Manta hid.

"I guess I'll go check on him." Yoh said, peeling off the blankets.

He walked over to the tent, and suddenly felt a chill go up his back. He motioned Amidamaru to come over to him. Yoh noticed something odd about the tent. One side of it was at a slant. He walked over, and gasped. On the side of the tent, there were several large slash marks. Peeking inside, he saw Faust, sitting and staring back at Yoh. However, he seemed to be spacing out, because five seconds later, Faust jumped back and shook. Yoh quickly went back to the door and let himself in.

"What's wrong, Faust?" Yoh asked.

"It's nothing, really." he smiled back awkwardly.

"Those holes there aren't nothing?"

"Well, last night it was really windy," Faust sighed as he seemed to try settling his nerves, "and all of a sudden, I heard this tearing sound. The side had been _slashed_. I thought whatever did that was going to try coming in, so I sat here and watched for it."

"All night?" Yoh said surprised.

"I don't mind." Faust smiled weakly, "I didn't want anything to happen to either my dear Eliza or any of you. Besides, I'm used to it." he finished as he pointed to his circles that decorated his eyes.

Yoh tried not to raise an eyebrow.

"Well Anna wants you to come outside." Yoh said as he started to leave.

"I guess I will then. But could you ask her when we're leaving?" Faust asked as he stretched his long arms.

"Why?"

"I don't know, Yoh, but I don't like being here. I've had this bad feeling ever since we entered here, hell, _the forest_. I suggest we try leaving here as soon as possible."

"Me too, but I think it'll work out in the end if we don't do anything to offend the spirits that live here."

"I don't know. Whatever that was last night felt _evil._"

"Spirits aren't evil, and you know that better than anyone else does."

"Maybe it was a demon." Faust said as he snuggled his blanket next to him.

"Whatever it was, we'll take it on if it tries anything." Yoh smiled and laughed.

Faust smiled back softly with a small boost of confidence.

The group started their daily trek towards Patch Village in the snow. The sun glistened on the ground, making the fresh snowfall almost light up. The pine trees were laced with snow also, their needles frosted with an icy film. Ryu had to carry Manta on his shoulder, otherwise Manta would have been stuck in the ground, and he refused to be picked up by Faust, even when he started sinking further into the snow.

However, someone else was now having trouble getting through the snow.

"Ren, hurry up!" Horo Horo yelled.

Ren shot him a glare back.

"I don't need encouragement from you, nor do I need help, so let go of me Faust."

Faust let go quickly, treasuring his arms. However, when Jun Tao picked up her little brother, Ren, he did not snarl or threaten to spill blood. He only blushed slightly when his sister put him down.

Everyone else tried not to giggle.

"I _know_ you all wanted to laugh, so go ahead! But I'm warning you, you'll be one voice box short come tomorrow."

Everyone started to looked away innocently.

"Better, now Yoh, do you-damn wind!" Ren yelled as a sudden blast of wind shot past him.

The area, directly hit by the sun's rays, suddenly dropped down to freezing. The wind was unusually strong, and seemed to made a howling noise. The group huddled together, its weakest members in the middle, while the stronger ones stood on the outside. Yoh noticed how the wind seemed to be _running_ around them, feeling it come closer and closer. As quickly as it came, it knocked down Faust off to the side, a spray of blood accompanying his fall. The group went over to him as he laid on the snow, screaming in pain. The wind continued to blow.

"Wh-wha-_what hit you!_" Horo Horo screamed.

"I don't know!" Faust cried as he held the lower right of his neck, "Damn, look at all the blood I'm bleeding!"

The snow around him turned a pinkish red.

"You just sit right there while we wait for it to leave." Yoh reassured him, "As soon as it leaves, we'll try finding some help."

"...I'm a doctor, Yoh."

"Oh, well do you think you can Oversoul Eliza? She can watch you for now."

"I thin-." Just then, Faust passed out.

Frightened, Yoh lifted Faust's head, some of his blond hair stained pink from his own blood. The wind blew past them fiercely, and then slowed down drastically. Snow had begun to fall."Look over there!" Manta yelled.

Between some trees, a large white wolf watched them, growling. The only color it had besides white was the bright yellow eyes it used to stare, and the deep red blood dripping from its bared fangs. It snarled a bark, and then ran off into the disappearing wind.

Everyone else had a look of terror on their faces, except Yoh. He wore an expression of concern.


	4. Chapter 3 The Old Woman

The group moved through the snowfall as quickly as they could, with Ryu pulling Faust's limping arms around his neck. Perhaps they could find a worn trail that would lead to either a ranger station, or even to a road that passed on the side of the forest. As time passed on, hope started to run thin.

"I think we passed that log four times now." Chocolove said.

"Great. We have a cripple to carry around, some spirit angry at us, and now we've been going in circles. Just great." Ren growled as he planted himself on the log Chocolove mentioned.

"It's not his fault he got hurt!" Ryu snapped as he fixed Faust's position on his shoulders.

"If he hadn't been so weak, you wouldn't have to carry him, would you?"

"Oh, and if you got bitten on the neck by god knows what, you'd still be running in front of everyone!"

"Well at least I'd still be running. I'm in better condition than he'd ever be.

Anna had about enough of their arguing.

"And arguing about that is going to fix it?" Anna growled.

The both of them went silent.

"Better. Anyway, one of my shikigami said it saw a cabin nearby. I suggest we head for it and figure out what to do next."

So the group took her advice and kept moving.

The cabin sat in a small clearing. Although covered in snow, it still looked occupied, designated by the smoke rising from the chimney and the yellow glow from the windows.

"Maybe there's someone who can let us use their phone." Yoh said as he approached the door.

He knocked the door gently and waited. An older looking woman answered it. Her hair, jet black with naturally silver highlights, was up in a tight bun. She wore a brightly colored dress, decorated by the beaded jewelry she wore. She smiled, making her tanned, wrinkled skin wrinkle up even more.

"And who are you?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"Oh, my name's Yoh Asakura." Yoh quickly introduced himself, "One of my friends is badly hurt, and we wanted to know if we could borrow a phone or something."

"Can I see him?" She asked.

"Oh sure."

Yoh motioned to Ryu to come inside. He came in, and sat Faust gently down. The old woman proceeded to scan the wound with her dark eyes. Her face became slightly grave.

"Do you know what did this?" she asked while she was wiping the fresh blood away.

"I...really don't know. At first it was very windy and cold, and then BAM, he fell down screaming bloody murder. Then my other friend over here pointed to this white wolf, who ran away with the wind apparently."

Her face looked even more serious.

"Do you know what that could've been?"

"I think so, but first, I want to treat your friend."

"You can do that?"

"Oh sure! I've been doing it for years!" she laughed, wheezing a little.

She accompanied Ryu to drop Faust off into a room. Ryu walked out by himself after a few minutes.

"She said it would take a while for her to fix him, so in the meantime we can make ourselves at home." Ryu said as he plopped down on a couch.

"How nice of her." Yoh smiled.

Time seemed to drag on before the old woman emerged from the room.

"It took me a while to do it, but with some care, he should be better soon."

"That's great." Yoh said.

"Right now he's asleep, but his nice wife of his is watching him for me."

Everyone's faces dropped. How was this old woman was able to _see_ Eliza, much less _not_ be afraid?

"What?" the old woman asked.

"Umm...his wife's-" Yoh started to explain.

"I know. She's a spirit." the old woman finished, "She's such a nice woman. Pretty too."

"So you're a shaman?" Horo Horo asked.

"You could say that." the old woman answered, "I've always felt more in tune with the spirit world than most."

"Anyway," Yoh said with a little more confidence, "do you know what happened to my friend?"

The old woman's face looked serious again as she sighed.

"From what you told me, and what your friend told me also led me to believe that it might be a particular spirit that has been here for several hundred years now. It is a wolf spirit that belonged to an Native American warrior that died so many years ago."

"Do you mind if you told us about it?"

"I suppose, but I don't want you poor children to be afraid to step outside afterwards."

"We've been through worse, trust me."

"All right then. But first, you all look so hungry. Would you like to eat first?"

Rumored angry spirit or not, their stomachs could not refuse this offer.


	5. Chapter 4 Wolf Child

After dinner had past, the group huddled around the old woman.

"This story was told to me by my grandmother, who also had it passed down to her. It occurred a few hundred years ago, when just our people roamed the lands. From one particular tribe came a young warrior, in the English tongue, who was called Wolf Child. Ever since he was smaller, wolves were _attracted_ to him. Normally they would shy away from humans, but they were friendly with him, like he was one of their own. He was given the name after telling several hungry ones to leave his little sister alone. In his spirit journey, a wolf in the winter wind appeared to him, and told him he would accompany him, like the other spirits did.

"He was the favorite of the chief, Laughing Bear. So much, he loved him more than his own son, Snake Dancer. Snake Dancer hated Wolf Child more and more, since his father would compare him to "the fine young man". His patience finally broke when Wolf Child married the most beautiful woman of the tribe, Beloved of the Flowers, who (in his opinion) was "made for him".

"At this time, the white man started to settle in this area in a fort, and they constantly fought with the tribe. Winter was coming, and food was running scarce. The chief was finally driven to raid the fort. He sent Wolf Child to lead a group of warriors to carry out the raid. Snake Dancer, to avenge his pride, snuck into the fort and told the captain of the fort about the raid. Later, Wolf Child noticed smoke coming from the camp, so he spurred the others to go back, even though a snowstorm had started. When he arrived, the camp was destroyed, and was being burned at this point. He ran back to his home, and found a soldier raping his wife. Wolf Child tried running over, but before he was able to do anything, the man pulled out a revolver and shot him in the heart.

"Ever since that happened, many white people either went missing or were found dead in this area. The natives say it was the wolf spirit that accompanied Wolf Child, avenging the death of his companion."

The group was quiet.

"Well no wonder!" Horo Horo said, "That thing's got some beef against white people, and Faust is a prime example of one! He's _European_, for Crissakes'!"

"I'm afraid so." the old woman said, "A white soldier killed his master, and now he's been embittered."

"I think 'embittered' is an understatement." Manta sweatdropped, "More like 'wrathful'."

"...For now you can stay here." the old woman said, "But if you decide to leave with your friend, I suggest you wait until I can get a park ranger over here."

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Anna snarled, "We can take care of ourselves, even our walking target who's in the room right now. We have our own spirits, and a little nature one will be no problem for us, **right**?" Anna finished as she glared at the group.

They nodded in forced agreement.

Just then, Eliza walked out into the room.

"Faust would like to see you, Yoh." Eliza smiled.

Yoh, with a slight feeling of guilt, followed her to the room.


	6. Chapter 5 The Wound that Never Healed

Yoh walked in slowly into the room Eliza directed him to. The room was lighted by several lanterns placed in strategic points. Faust was sitting on the bed, propped up by many pillows. He curled up in his blankets some more, moving carefully to not hurt himself any more.

"Hi Yoh." Faust smiled.

"Hi." Yoh answered with a small tremble to his voice.

"What's wrong?"

Yoh stood there quietly.

"Yoh, is it because I got hurt?"

Yoh winced a little.

"Yoh, it's not your fault. It could've hit anyone. I think I was a little out of the circle." Faust laughed sheepishly.

"You're wrong." Yoh said.

"What do you mean?"

Yoh repeated the old woman's story to Faust. Faust then sat quietly for a while, thinking what he had heard over.

"Still, it's not your fault." Faust sighed a few minutes later.

"Why not! I promised you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you! I'm surprised Eliza isn't mad at me!"

"Look, this happened because that thing has a grudge against "my kind". I'm sure a spirit that angry would've been desperate enough to find a way to get to me, even if I was in the middle of the circle. Now you stop worrying about me, because if the others see you like that, they'll be discouraged."

Yoh blinked in surprise.

"Don't worry about me, Yoh. Eliza's here to take care of me." Faust smiled softly.

Yoh smiled, feeling a little better about what had happened.

Several days passed, and eventually Faust recovered to the point that he was able to get around, but not as quickly as he would have liked. However, Ren had just about enough of sitting around in the cabin, waiting for, as he liked to call Faust, "the weakest link to get his ass into gear".

"Yoh, when are we leaving?" Ren growled as he curled up closer to the fireplace.

"When Faust is a little better." Yoh answered, "He's okay, but if something came along, I don't think he'd be able to run away from it."

"Ever heard of _natural_ _selection_, Yoh? The weak animals always get eaten."

"But he's not an animal."

"Could've fooled me."

"It's just a day or two more, Ren."

"I'm sick of sitting here! We're just wasting our time while tons of other Shamans are probably at Patch Village by now!"

"If you were in the same condition, I would've waited for you too!"

Ren rolled his eyes. Suddenly, Faust came out into the living room, dressed in his overly large raincoat and hat. Eliza came from behind him, with a slightly worried look on her face.

"You think we should leave now?" Faust smiled with an unusually large grin on his face.

Ren looked ecstatic, but Yoh did not.

"...Are you okay, Faust?" Yoh asked.

"Sure I'm sure!" Faust smiled some more, "I've never felt better!"

Yoh was not sure if it was Faust himself or the morphine he had probably injected into his system that was talking.

"So you want to leave?" Yoh asked.

"Yes I do! We have a long way to go, you know!"

Eliza looked up at him pleadingly, but her concern for him was overshadowed by his sudden fit of giggling.

"You look cute like that!" Faust giggled as he suddenly slithered an arm around her back, "Oh, I really wanted to say thank you for watching me! So thank you thank you thank you!" Faust gave her a quick, but rough kiss, and scampered off to another area of the house.

Yoh and Ren stared as he ran by them. Eliza started to walk away.

"Hey, Eliza, uh...is your husband okay?" Yoh said reluctantly. It was hard getting any sort of conversation from her, much less if her beloved was not around (and was probably trying to get on the roof to dance on it).

She stopped, but she only sighed.

"If he isn't, we'll stay one more day. He looks a little...out of it anyway."

"More like stoned." Ren snarled.

Eliza forced a smile, and then made a sniffling sound.

"It was his idea." she finally said.

"What was?" Yoh asked.

"Leaving. He said he didn't want to hold you guys up any longer. I told him that you'd probably wait for him, but he didn't want to listen to me. So today while I was checking him, he asked me for some water. The water pitcher was empty, so I went to get some more. I should've known better, because as soon as I came back, he was injecting himself in the arm. To be honest, I'm really trying to make him quit his addiction, so I yelled at him. He got mad and said that he didn't want to be dead weight to the group."

"Why would he think that?"

Eliza bit her lip as soon as she noticed Ren looking at her.

"Well, last night I found him looking really depressed. I was worried he was going to do something stupid, so I sat with him." Eliza continued, "All of the sudden, he asked me 'you don't think I'm weak, do you?'. I told him that he wouldn't have gotten this far in the Shaman Fight if he was."

Ren interrupted with a sneeze that sounded like "bullshit".

"Then he said that 'he knew that deep down everyone else thought differently'. I told him that he wasn't in any condition to think about that, but he refused to listen to me. Then he said something weird to himself, like 'I hope I'm able to fight it'."

Yoh looked scared. Did Faust want to face the spirit in combat? He wished Faust did not have any desire to, because he knew it would only make things worse. Why would he want to anyway? To prove he was strong? This wasn't like Faust at all. In fact, many of the things Eliza was talking about weren't like him.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, if that's what you're wondering." Eliza muttered.

"He sounds bitter," Ren said, "for being an easy target. He probably wants to redeem himself."

"He isn't like that!"

"You'd be surprised what people do when things happen to them. For instance, you didn't think he'd be a psychotic junkie when you met him, but when you died, look what happened."

"Maybe he doesn't want it to hurt anyone else!" Eliza screamed as she stormed off to the room Faust had been staying in.

Ren rolled his eyes and sighed heavily as he started to sharpen his gwan dao with a stone. Yoh knew what was going on. The wound Faust suffered hurt him more than on the surface.

Suddenly, Horo Horo ran in.

"Yoh! Ren! You gotta help me! I was coming back from snow boarding, and then all of the sudden, I saw Faust jump off the roof and run into the forest!"

Yoh knew that this was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 6 Police Involvement

The forest was deathly quiet, except for the echo of quick footsteps trudging across the snow-covered ground. Ryu stopped for a minute to catch his breath.

"How far did that psycho run!" Ryu gasped.

"Really far, apparently." Yoh answered.

"We'd better hurry." Horo Horo said while looking up at the sky, "I think it might snow again."

Ren rolled his eyes, but Yoh knew better. Horo Horo came from the Ainu tribe up in the frozen regions of Hokkaido. Being able to read nature's signs like a book was necessary for survival for his people.

"Well let's get a move on, shall we?" Ren growled.

Ren must have thought better also.

It felt like hours passed before suddenly Horo Horo stopped abruptly in front of the group. He peered at the ground carefully.

"I think there's a footprint." Horo Horo said quietly.

"About time." Ren said.

"You know this is your fault, Ren."

"WHAT? How is it _my_ fault?"

"You kept calling Faust names!"

"So? I was only telling the truth."

Suddenly, a beam of light shone at them. A sound of footsteps approached them.

"Hello?" a voice cried.

"Who's there?" Yoh answered.

A man in a puffy blue jacket walked over to them. He examined them with the flashlight as he adjusted his cowboy hat.

"My name's Officer Peter Jones." The man said after a minute passed.

"Are you looking for someone?" Yoh asked.

"I'm sort of lost, to be honest. I was with my recovery party, but a storm blew in and separated us."

"We can help you find your way back if you like."

The others in Yoh's party stared at him.

"He can help us, you guys. By any chance," Yoh started to ask, "have you seen a tall blonde man run by? He's wearing a really large raincoat with an ugly hat, has blue eyes with really dark bags under them, really skinny, has a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, and is probably laughing and giggling like a schoolgirl."

The policeman paused to think.

"Well, I saw something like a lab coat hanging off from a tree. It was pretty torn up though."

"If he's running around naked, I'm going back!" Ren huffed.

"If he is, in a few hours he'll probably freeze to death." Officer Jones said as he rubbed his arms.

"Where did you see the coat?" Manta asked.

"Oh, over there, about a good ten minutes from here." Officer Jones pointed behind him.

Ten minutes turned into half an hour before they found the coat. It hung limply from a pine tree, torn and bloody.

"Hopefully he just _took off_ his coat." Yoh winced.

"From this spot, your friend shouldn't be that far away." Officer Jones said.

The group spread themselves out slightly, hoping Faust was nearby, even if he was laughing at them like it was all a big game. Time passed, and hope wore thin.

"You think he ran further, Yoh?" Ryu yelled.

"I'm starting to think so." Yoh yelled back, "Let's take a break."

The group sat around under another pine tree.

"What time is it?" Horo Horo yawned.

"It's about 1:30 in the morning." Officer Jones answered.

"Can't we look for him in the morning?" Ren asked.

"No, he'll die out here." Horo Horo answered.

"And we have to take the policeman back to his group." Yoh said.

_Just what I needed_, Ren thought.

Suddenly, Amidamaru came by, from being sent out to search for his master, floated carefully to Yoh, avoiding the gaze of the police officer. He poked Yoh to get his attention.

"Yoh, I think I found something." Amidamaru whispered.

"What?"

"It's a campsite. It looks like it's been abandoned for a good while, but maybe Faust is hiding there."

"Alright. We can check there."

Yoh turned to the rest of the group.

"Hey guys, let's go that way." Yoh pointed, "I got a feeling about it."

The group arrived at the campsite. It was eerily quiet, except for a slight breeze that whistled through the torn tent that stood alone. Ashes from a extinguished campfire blew away once in a while. A stench floated in the atmosphere.

"It smells like something dead!" Manta cried.

"It's probably Faust." Ren answered.

"It smells like something decomposing." Officer Jones said as he approached the tent. He rapped the side of it, and called to it. When no one came out, he opened it. He stared and stepped back.

"No one's here." Officer Jones quickly said.

"Really?" Yoh asked as he walked over.

"Please don't."

"Don't what?"

"Look."

"Why not?" Yoh said as he pulled back the tent door.

He suddenly realized why Officer Jones wanted to leave so soon. Two corpses were laying side by side. They were barely starting to rot, since the cold weather impeded the natural "cycle".

"They've been...torn up." Yoh winced.

"I think I know one of them." Officer Jones said as he proceeded to have a closer look at one of the bodies, "This one is the police chief's daughter. She's the main reason I'm out here. He sent us to look for her after she disappeared. A hiker found this campsite with a camcorder laying around, and we tried coming up here according to what he told us."

_This is bad_, Yoh thought, _That thing already killed two people. But it's probably done it before._

He knew that if Faust was going to be found alive, they would have to hurry.


	8. Chapter 7 Reunion

The group sat around the abandoned campsite, watching the snowfall. An icy wind would occasionally blow past them. The forest was now very dark and quiet.

"I think a storm's coming." Horo Horo said as he stood up, "We should get moving."

"Wouldn't it be easier to search in the morning?" Ren asked.

"It would be, but if we wait any longer, Faust will be dead."

Although Ren did not say anything, Horo Horo already knew what Ren wanted to say.

"Well, at least I know what happened to the sheriff's daughter." Officer Jones sighed.

"I guess we'll have to keep going, you guys." Yoh said as he got up.

The group took a few steps away from the camp when they saw a medium-sized blood stain on the snow.

"This looks recent." Horo Horo said while inspecting it.

"Let's follow it." Yoh said.

As they followed the trail, the amount of blood left behind increased in amount, which worried the group. The trail led to a small ledge. Yoh edged over to look down, and noticed blood splattered on the rocks. Upon further inspection, he noticed something yellow further down.

"I think he's down there." Yoh muttered.

The group slowly made their way down the rocks, taking care to not slip on the blood left behind. The farther down they climbed, the colder it seemed to get. Finally, they touched solid ground. Turning to the side, they noticed the yellow object they saw earlier, which had finally moved. It was Faust, who looked much scarier than usual. His wound had reopened, the blood contrasting his paper-white skin, which now had a blue tinge. The color of his lips were a deep purple, since they had darkened from the cold. He shivered and breathed violently, since he only had his boots and pants on. He looked up with his electric blue eyes, his pupils tiny from the morphine he had taken.

"H-h-hi." Faust muttered.

"ABOUT FRIKKIN' TIME!" Ren yelled.

Faust curled up some more and stared at the ground.

"Ren! That wasn't very nice of you to say." Yoh said firmly.

"You're the reason he's out here!" Horo Horo said.

Ren sighed heavily and muttered an 'I'm sorry', albeit not as convincing as the rest of the group would have liked.

"W-where's Eliza?" Faust said as he shivered some more.

"She's with us, but she's sort of hiding because of..." Yoh said as he quickly glanced at Officer Jones.

Faust understood what he meant.

"I just wanted to tell her that I'm sorry about what I did." Faust said as he started to cry.

"I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"And I'm sure that you're mad at me too."

"Well, only because running out into the cold isn't what I call 'smart'."

Faust smiled gently, but suddenly, a large gust of wind passed by, changing his expression from happy to one of great shock as a large gush of blood came out from him. Without a sound, he slumped downwards. The group quickly rushed over to his aid.

"I have a really bad feeling." Ryu said.

They picked up Faust gently when they heard a howl. They turned slowly around, and standing behind them was a pure white wolf. The wind whistled and churned around it, increasing the volume of the growls it made. It tensed its muscles for a second before pouncing at the group. The group quickly scattered, giving themselves space. Normally, the shaman in the group would have engaged with the wolf in combat, but since Officer Jones was a regular human, they did not want to give him a bad impression if they were to suddenly draw their weapons and beat a wild animal to death. However, by the way the wolf fearlessly whirled around, growling, they had to change their minds.

"Alright you guys!" Yoh yelled, "Let's try to hit this thing together!"

As quickly as the group started to charge, a great gust of wind kicked up, spurring them away and sending them running in entirely different directions.


	9. Chapter 9 Separation

Ryu ran blindly deeper into the trees. He stopped a moment to take in some air. He looked down at his newfound charge. Faust lay quietly in his arms, breathing slowly.

"Well, it could be worse." Ryu said to him, "That thing could've picked us all off."

Faust stirred a little.

"Now, there's no need to move around. Let me check you for a minute."

Ryu set Faust down, and examined his new wounds. They were just as bad as the old ones.

"Hopefully we can get back to that cabin or somewhere safe soon." Ryu said as he attempted to wrap up Faust's wounds.

Faust stirred some more, and then muttered slowly,

"You're doing it wrong."

"What's with you?" Ryu asked, "You're half-dead, and you're worrying about how I'm fixing you."

"…if you don't do it right, then it won't work."

"I don't care! Your better half can fix you when we finally get somewhere, so stop complaining."

Meanwhile, Ren came to a sliding stop after realizing he just _ran away_ from a possible confrontation.

"I say let's go back!" he growled.

"Hell no!" Horo Horo answered.

"Do you know where Yoh is?" Chocolove asked.

"Probably the same place Manta's at."

"Do you think we should go look for them?"

"Probably, but do you know where they ran off to?"

Neither of them answered. Ren still looked tense.

Yoh came to a sliding stop. He turned around to see Manta panting behind him. Anna leaned against a tree, obviously tired, but wasn't expressing it as much as Manta was.

"Are you two okay?" Yoh asked.

"I'm fine, but I'm not sure about Manta." Anna answered.

Manta waived his hand in the 'I'm fine' gesture as he gulped some more air.

"That thing didn't follow us, did it?" Yoh said worried.

Manta turned around and started to panic.

"It didn't follow us." Anna growled, "And that's why I want you to go back."

"What!" Yoh yelled, "What for?"

"The spirit needs to be placated. If we just run away from it, it will just keep killing. From the looks of it, it refuses to pass on."

"So you want me to destroy it?"

"It's an angry spirit, Yoh. It's very difficult to placate them when they're as angry as _that_ one. Consider it training."

Yoh was quiet for a moment. She was making it sound like an evil spirit, manifested by hate itself. However, something told him that deep down, it wanted to be free from the anger it had towards the people who had killed his owner so many years ago. Just putting it out of its misery just didn't seem...fair.

"Fine. I'll go." Yoh said as he started to walk back.

"I'll go with you." Manta said.

"Are you sure?"

"I've been with you everywhere. What makes this different from the other times?"

"Alright."

Yoh, Manta, and Anna turned and walked back from where they ran from.


End file.
